American Parmigiano and the Translator’s Visibility

In this paper I compare two English translations of Wu Ming’s Italian short story American Parmigiano (2008). I seek to demonstrate that the translators can be made visible in their work. My premise is: while a careful analysis of any translation can render the translator visible, a comparison of two translators’ work is able to provide a particular insight into an individual translator’s style. N.S. Thompson’s translation, American Parmesan (2013) and my own translation, American Parmigiano (2016) are discussed through a lens of the translation strategies foreignization, domestication and explicitation. They are then further explored via a detailed analysis of some components of style – the translator’s style, not the style of the original author. In this case the components examined are swear words, contrasting word choices and degree of formality. I argue that the translators are visible because of their translation choices and this comparison has made that identification possible.